3: Alien Stuff
"Okay, now we've gotta clean this shit up!" I smile at Demyx when he sends me an outraged look, and I lift my hand when I see him about to spew out a complaint. "It would have been a good display of common sense to leave the mud-covered pieces of destroyed, alien machinery outside." I tilt my head in my friends direction he rolls his eyes before crossing his arms over his chest, I know he has an argument, so I do all I can at a time like this. I wait for it to be over, and hope it's soon because I don't want the dirt to seep into my carpet. Then that means I'll have to actually scrub, and I hate scrubbing. It's so much work and I took the day off to figure out what I'm going to do with Roxas, and where I'm going to put him, not to spend it cleaning. I have to get back to actual work tomorrow, there isn't much time.
"Oh really? You want some FBI agents to drive by and see it? BAM! There goes the last Xarthean...are you proud of yourself Axel? Are you?" Demyx shakes his head, furrowing his stupid eyebrows at me before turning to look at Roxas, who's still holding the tiny black sack in his hand. You can imagine how small the thing is, if it looks tiny in Roxas' little palms.
"Shut up Demyx, what're the odds?" I sigh when he just stays facing away from me, and I start with picking up the smallest pieces around me first. I have to wonder how Demyx brought these things over all by himself, it's quite heavy, so he couldn't have just carried them here in his arms. I pause, putting what I picked up back down, when I hear my friend speak.
"So, Rox, what's in the bag?" My ears perk up before I decide to just turn around and listen. I'll get Demyx to help me one way or another, after I find out what Roxas is holding and why he needs it. The dumb blonde (not Roxas, obviously) sends me a stupid smile, almost as if to say that he knew there were more important things to take care of than cleaning. He doesn't understand the fact that it's going to muck up my carpet forever.
"This is the essence of perfection," I stare at Roxas and notice his eyes are that sad, blue colour and I wonder why this time. Demyx sends me a worried look before quickly looking back at Roxas again, stretching his hand out and patting the little alien on the shoulder. At least Demyx caught on that that lovely colour is a bad thing. I blink a few times as the information sinks in and all I can do is make a really confused face to express myself. The essence of perfection? My friend shares the same look as I do, so I don't feel half as bad.
"The what?" Demyx scrunches his eyebrows together, like he's trying to read really tiny font written along Roxas' face. I have my own ideas as to what Roxas could mean, like maybe it's some sort of dust you sprinkle on stuff and it makes things perfect, or maybe you have to eat it to gain super-human (or in this case, alien) abilities. Either way, I have stop myself from letting my imagination run wild, just long enough to focus and find out what it really is. Roxas smiles, lifting a tiny finger to untie the golden string keeping the sack closed. He looks up at us, bringing the opened bag up towards our faces. I stare down into it, and right away I'm in awe. It looks like he's holding the remains of an exploded star in the palm of his hand. There are bright, beautiful colours shinning from the middle of the bag, and I realize I'm sort of hypnotized by its beauty. It's amazing, to say the least. Demyx can't seem to say anything, all he's doing is staring straight into it. I want to reach out and stick my finger in it, just to feel what perfection feels like but yet, I don't want to run the risk of ruining it forever. I'm betting it would be soft, maybe softer than Roxas, and that makes resisting my urge even harder. The little alien seems to notice the way our mere mortal minds react to the sight of 'perfection', so he takes the bag away, closing it up tightly once again. I feel a certain sadness at the loss of such beauty, after all, you don't see shit like that every day. I feel like I could have stared into the bag forever, and my friend stays staring at the space where it once was, his excitable-artistic brain probably missing the sight much more than me.
"The essence of perfection was harvested from the core of my planet, before my father's father's father was born," By the way his eyes widen hugely, that's a really long time. "No one understands why, but one day a large opening appeared on the planet's surface, all the way to the core of Xarthe. It was my great-great grandfather who was chosen for the journey and when he returned with this, he was made King of Xarthe." I feel sort of bad for Roxas, because the longer he talks about his planet, the lighter his eyes get. "The entire planet seemed to be kept alive by this and it gave us everything we could ever need, it was what made my people so..." The alien hesitates, and both my friend and I watch him as he searches for a word to describe his people.
Demyx cuts in with a chuckle. "Perfect?" Roxas smiles, shaking his head.
"My planet was what was perfect. It radiated it and the fruit from its soil contained perfection. After ingesting it for so long, I guess my people began to shift and change but we were never what was perfect. It was Xarthe herself. It took millennia before any of our wisest could figure out what it was exactly. This glowing, mystical sphere living in the heart of our planet, or at least that's how the old King detailed it to me...It took even longer to discover that it had an actual use and even then we had no idea how to use it," Here he rubs the little bag, before enclosing it in his fist. "This is the last bit of true perfection in all the galaxies and I am the only one alive who knows how to make sure it's not wasted. The rest was destroyed when my planet was vaporized," Demyx seems to snap out of his daze quickly, and he gasps.
"You mean, that stuff in the bag...it can make anything perfect?"
"Not necessarily. That is what all the other planets failed to realize," A little rueful smile takes place on Roxas' lips and I don't like the look of it. I mean, it's gorgeous beyond belief, but the pain it shows is enough to cause me physical pain just from seeing it there. I send him a sad look and he shrugs. "Perfection takes time," Both Demyx and I wait to hear how it works, my curiosity eating away at me the longer the alien stays quiet. Finally he seems to realize we're waiting for something and he raises an eyebrow. "You both want to know? I had to wait decades to find out, and you expect to learn of its great power just like that?" The moment the words leave Roxas' mouth, I feel kind of stupid for thinking he'd actually tell us. I mean, his entire species was wiped out because no one but the Royal Xartheans knew how to use the essence of perfection and even then, it sounds like it was some huge mystery but come on, you can't just show us something like that and expect us not to be curious. Roxas just makes that same breathy-laughing sound when Demyx stares at him like that's exactly what he wants.
"Wait...you said decades...how old are you?" My curiosity only increases, because once again what Roxas said took a few seconds to sink in. I seem rather slow these last couple of days. The little alien smiles at me, waving his hand around the air like that's not important but I think it is. Demyx seems to back me up with this, and he asks the question again, both of us watching Roxas, waiting for an answer. He seems to consider what he's going to tell us, and the longer he takes, the curiouser I become.
"Well by Earthling standards, I am quite old, much older than the both of you, but back on Xarthe I was considered what you humans call an adolescent," I can't say I'm fully satisfied with the answer, but I guess it's alright. The number isn't really important, at least now I know he isn't a child, even back on his planet. Though I don't know why that would matter...I guess it makes me feel a little better about finding him kind of cute. The more I think it, the weirder and freakier it seems. I look down at Demyx and wonder if he thinks the same thing, but I can't tell. My friend just looks back towards me, raising both his eyebrows.
"Man this alien stuff is so trippy." I nod my head, agreeing with Demyx. This is only the tip of the iceberg though, we have so much more stuff to find out and so much more to teach Roxas. "So...what now?" As soon as the question is out, Demyx looks like he wants to take it back. I smile hugely, my eyes trailing towards the transporting pod on the carpet and he knows right away what's going to happen because before anymore questions are asked and answered, we need to clean this shit up. "Fuck Axel, you don't even like cleaning!" He grumbles, rolling up his sleeves and picking up a few pieces. I follow suit, grabbing the rest of the small pieces and following Demyx as he leads the way towards my backyard. I hear Roxas' footsteps, padding along quickly behind us and I turn to see him carrying everything we'd left. It looks rather strange, let me tell you, seeing such a tiny alien carrying all those big, heavy chunks of metal and I can't wait for Demyx to see this.
"That's exactly why I want to get it over with," I huff, squeezing my way out the back door with Roxas in tow, Demyx hasn't seen him yet but he will soon. My friend drops what he grabbed onto the grass and turns, looking beyond displeased and before I can say anything, he's shouting about Roxas carrying everything on his own. The little alien stares wide-eyed at my friend, and this is when I notice just how big his eyes are. They aren't terrifyingly huge, but they are significantly larger than normal human eyes, especially widened like that. I don't know how I didn't see this before, but I figure there's a lot of things I'll be noticing as the days progress. Demyx turns to me, his own eyes almost as big as Roxas' and I laugh. Maybe now he'll wonder if, just maybe Roxas could be even the slightest bit dangerous.
...
It's while I'm making Demyx and me some lunch, that I realize it must have been a very long time since Roxas last ate. I wonder what the hell aliens even eat, and I really hope it's not anything like human flesh and something I can actually get for him. I turn away from the stove, leaving the macaroni to finish boiling and find the alien and Demyx chatting happily to one another in the living room. They aren't speaking about anything important, I say this because it's Demyx who's talking. Roxas really seems to be listening more than anything, so I know I didn't miss any crucial information. "Oh my god, we could take you sight seeing!" I stop my friend, forgetting about asking Roxas about his food, putting my hand on Demyx's shoulder and effectively scaring the shit out of him. He probably thought I was still in the kitchen.
"We can't take him out Demyx," I say slowly, hoping he'll know why and that I won't have to explain it to him. Judging by the way he looks up at me, pouting and sad, he doesn't understand. "He's clearly not human, people would notice," I look towards Roxas to make my point, and the blonde alien tilts his head, smiling.
"I could look like a person...after all, none of you are the same, correct?" He smiles even bigger, and he probably thinks he's guaranteed a tour of the city but he doesn't get it, and apparently humanDemyx doesn't get it either. He must have completely forgotten our initial reaction to seeing Roxas. Maybe if he remembered that, he'd realize other people will see what we see. And he was telling me to be watchful of FBI agents...pffft.
"Yeah but...you just aren't a normal person and it's very obvious!" I look towards Demyx, hoping he'll back me up and my friend squints in Roxas' direction, cupping his chin in between his thumb and index finger as he studies the little alien. Roxas stays perfectly still, staring at Demyx and I can almost feel him trying to make himself look a little more human. I can't believe this, or well I can, but I don't want to.
"We can just say he was born a little...different, if someone asks," Demyx snaps his fingers like that's the perfect idea and he turns to me, a smug grin on his lips and Roxas is just beaming excitedly from his seat on the sofa. I guess I'm the only one here who doesn't feel exactly safe with this whole idea of leaving the house with the alien in broad daylight.
"I don't know...I think it's fucking clear that he's an alien, and not a human born with some sort of condition," I cross my arms over my chest and stare at Roxas as he sucks his bottom lip into his mouth. I'm about to really put my foot down and tell them both the final answer to leaving the house is a big, fat 'NO' but the doorbell rings. Everyone's eyes widen and I fling my body around towards the doorway, my heart pounding so hard I can feel it, steadily pulsing in my temples. I hear Demyx fly up off the couch and a little grunt follows, which means he probably plucked Roxas off the sofa. When I look back, I see Demyx running towards the rooms, Roxas tossed over his shoulder just watching me with those round eyes. The doorbell rings again, and this time, the person on the other side speaks.
"I know you're home Axel, your car's here," The voice of my mother reaches my ears and I curse, I curse nice and loud for not having put my car in the garage. Since when does she visit me randomly? I thought this house gave her the heebie-jeebies! I take one last look towards the bedroom, the door having slammed shut a few seconds ago. I contemplate running into the room too, hiding from my mother until she realizes I must have bussed it to work or something "Come on Ax, the sun is roasting me out here!" My mother starts knocking on the door and I sigh before going to open it, clearly she isn't going to give up. She probably heard Demyx's footsteps and thought it was me.
Please God, if you're up there, don't let Roxas run out while she's still here...or even better, make her visit a very, very short one.
A/N: HEY GUYS, I FINALLY GOT MY INTERNET BACK!
To celebrate, here's a new chapter of So, You're From Space?
I've been real busy these past couple days, seeing as the amusement park I work in finally opened full-time and not just on weekends, so I haven't had much computer time or even writing time.
Today's my only day off so, I'm putting this up NAOOOO!
I hope there aren't too much typos and mistakes, I really try you guys D;
Also...fanfiction, stop telling me I spelt colour wrong...I'm Canadian damnit D
Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this and tell me, do you guys think Roxas is dangerous, or is Axel just scarred from too much X-Files?
XD
Thanks for reading.
-is beamed back to the mothership-